Emojis, YouTube, IE, More: Morning Buzz, June 18, 2014

Genealogists! Wondering what happened to Ancestry.com? Apparently it got hit by a DDoS attack. “Around 1:30 p.m. MT on Monday, June 16, 2014, attackers targeted Ancestry with a Distributed Denial of Service attack (DDoS). During the attack, Ancestry websites along with the Find A Grave website were clogged with massive amounts of bogus traffic that took the sites down.”

The Guardian is reporting that YouTube is getting a new music service, and will block videos from indie labels which do not license for its new service. “[Robert Kyncl’s] confirmation that YouTube will block videos from labels that do not sign licensing deals for the new premium tier will be hugely controversial among indie labels, with trade body WIN already filing a complaint to the European Commission about its negotiating strategy.” This is remarkably tin eared of Google. Note: Here’s a followup article from the Guardian, full of quotes, rumors, and speculation.

Facebook has finally and FOR REAL launched its Snapchat competitor, Slingshot. “Users can send photos or videos up to 15 seconds long using Slingshot, and once those messages are viewed and cleared by the recipient, they disappear from the recipient’s phone for good. The only catch: Users are required to respond with an image or video in order to “unlock” those they receive. For example, if you receive a message from a friend, you’ll need to send a message back to that friend before you can open what they sent you.”

Wellcome Library has changed its access procedures, making it somewhat more open. “You no longer need to register to access the majority of our digitised archives – approximately 30,000 items. Archives and manuscripts under 100 years old, along with older archives now simply require you to accept our terms and conditions.” Good morning, Internet…

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